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Friday, 4 January 2013

Australia ghost gum trees in Alice Springs 'arson attack'

Two ghost gum trees made famous by the work of
Australian aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira have been found burnt.

Officials in
the town of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory say they believe the fire
was started deliberately.

The trees had
been due to be added to a national heritage register.

The trees are
regarded as living spirits in indigenous culture and feature in many of
Namatjira's watercolour paintings.

Officials say
that work had recently been carried out to protect the trees from fire and to
allow moisture to get to their roots.

"It's the
two trees that brought this man to prominence and brought the Northern
Territory and Central Australia to prominence and put us on the world
map," Ms Anderson said.

Art writer
Susan McCulloch told the Sydney Morning Herald that the destruction of the
trees was "appalling and a tragic act of cultural vandalism".

Namatjira was
born in 1902 near Alice Springs and was a traditional custodian of the lands of
the Arrernte people in that area.

He began
painting in the 1930s and earned widespread acclaim for his vivid landscape
paintings of the central Australian desert.

In 1957 he was
granted full Australian citizenship, as opposed to other indigenous people, who
were considered wards of state in the Northern Territory.

In 1958 he
spent two months in prison for a charge of supplying alcohol to other
indigenous people. Citizens were entitled to procure alcohol, but it was
illegal to supply to wards of state, including indigenous people. He died in
1959.